Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-25-Speech-1-096"
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"en.20060925.14.1-096"2
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Mr President, some 80 % of our citizens live in urban areas, but their needs and interests are strongly under-represented in Union funds, projects and initiatives. As regards the level of EU funding, these city dwellers are second-rate citizens of the European Union. The thematic strategy on the urban environment should be a brave and progressive initiative, not just a lukewarm recommendation of wishful thinking. Sadly, the Commission document on that subject is rather weak. The Sixth Environmental Action Plan has set encouraging goals, but this time the Commission failed to propose legally binding measures and deadlines. The Commission does not attempt to balance European policy between urban and rural areas and does not have any vision for a cleaner urban environment. I cannot do the job of the whole Commission, but I can at least try to propose some useful measures.
Firstly, I propose that a sustainable urban management plan and a sustainable urban transport plan should be required by Community law for every agglomeration with more than 100 000 inhabitants, as proposed by the Commission in 2004. Representatives of European cities have expressed their satisfaction with my proposal. Those kinds of binding measures make life easier for environment-conscious city councils, as they have legal bases for action on the environment.
As far as transport is concerned, non-motorised transport should have priority over every other kind of traffic, public transport over private, small and less-polluting cars over other vehicles. Congestion charging, as used in London and Stockholm, is a success at present. It is the only possible future for every large European city. The referendum some days ago in Stockholm showed us that people liked the idea and only a minority of certain lobbyists oppose it. I am also proposing a 5% shift in passenger kilometre from individual transport – namely cars – to public transport and cycling. Speed limits in city centres, such as in Graz, Austria, reduce accidents, save lives and reduce air pollution and noise emissions. Low emission zones are also useful in combating air pollution.
If we really want to do something about climate change, we should act in our cities as well. As the English say, ‘charity begins at home’. That should also apply to sustainable development. Due to climate change, heatwaves turn many towns and cities into hell during the hot summer days and nights. Heatwaves kill thousands of European citizens and they die a painful and humiliating death. Heatwave emergency plans are crucial for most European cities, except in some Nordic communities. The basic treatment for heatwaves is simple: more water, green roofs and facades, fresh water and natural cooling systems, reducing car traffic. Hot summers are coming and we should save the lives of city dwellers. We need more green spaces in our cities. Even some ten square metres of green islands can improve the spirit of a city, together with bigger parks and gardens nearby.
Summertime urban beaches like those in Paris, Brussels and Budapest are also useful projects for those who cannot leave the city on long vacations. In both old and new Member States, tens of millions of people live in mass-produced, prefabricated housing estates. In many western cities these have become ethnic and social ghettos. Complex social, cultural, educational and environmental programmes are needed to rehabilitate those suburbs. In Central Europe, in Hungary for instance, most of those housing estates have not yet become ghettos. The majority of their dwellers still belong to the lower and middle classes. In their case, the physical state of the housing is worrying. In the EU-10 countries the repair and rehabilitation of housing estates is a crucial step forward in preserving social peace and improving city life.
As rapporteur, I accepted many amendments tabled by my colleagues in the PPE-DE Group in the hope of good cooperation. I was rather surprised that the PPE-DE Group then tried to kill my report by deleting all the important targets and measures in committee.
I call upon all Members to support the importance of binding targets and measures. Without them our work is just words, words, words. My report can be summed up in one sentence: less cars, more green and water. That is the only survival strategy for our cities."@en1
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